PAL consoles in the states

[Gr3yfox]

Hello!
I have sort of a problem... It's pretty simple actually:
1. I own a gamecube and a PS2
2. I'm moving permanently to the states in august (I live in Sweden now)
3. Both consoles (all the games are original PAL releases) are PAL and they have not been modded or chipped in any way
4. I want to be able to play my games on my consoles in the states

This is what I've figured out so far:
1. I'll use a cheap converter to sort out the power issues

This is what I need you guys to help me figure out:
1. How to be able to play my PAL games on my PAL consoles in the US


I can't stay that I know that much about PAL and NTSC.. All I know is basically that Europe uses PAL (and that we also use scarts) and the US uses NTSC. That's... about it.

I would appreciate it if you could explain this to me like I was 5 years old and also tell me (excactly) what I need to get to get this to work... I don't really feel like spending lots of money on a TV that supports both PAL and NTSC in the states since these seem to be really expensive and I'm just a poor student.
And also, I've spent a LOT on my games (I own about 30 original games - $$$) and I _really_ want to be able to play them in the states. :-(

Thanks a lot in advance!

[viletim]

How about some kind of RGB (SCART) -> NTSC video encoder? There must be some not-too-expensive commercial ones out there. That's all I can think of...

[RGB32E]

The simple thing to do would be to track down a Pro Sony PVM monitor that supports PAL.  You should be able to find a good deal on eBay... provided that the seller is in your area.  

As far as the GC goes, if you order a US power supply from Nintendo of America, that should work just fine.  For any system that uses an external supply, buying a replacement in the desired region should work.

The PS2 is another story though... its power supply is internal... so trying to do something to change this might lead a person down a very destructive path.

[Guest]

Basically, you need some sort of monitor/TV that you can take with you, otherwise it'd be best to sell the whole thing, or better yet try to trade your console or games for the corresponding US versions so you come prepared. Finding a solution to take it with you only leads to more trouble, unless you get your PS2 chipped. Sell the games in Europe and get them secondhand in the US. You'll be amazed how much you can get back there for your Euros    

[phreak97]

if you get a voltage converter, make sure it actually is a voltage converter, not just an adaptor to change the socket shape. then itll work to get your consoles running. then your problem is to get them going on a tv. unless you take a pal tv with you, this is going to be tricky. most american tv's will not accept pal. unless you can get an rgb monitor, as suggested above, and rgb cables for bother your consoles, i dont think youre going to have much luck. an scart to ntsc adaptor sounds expensive to me, if such a thing actually exists. too bad youre not a techie, or else you could probably build yourself one pretty easily.

[Gr3yfox]

Hmm. I found a TV that wasn't too expensive that supports both systems... and yeah, of course I'm gonna make sure its a voltage converter and not just a socket converter.


Take a look at what I found on ebay Will this work?

[phreak97]

that converter will only work if your tv supports ntsc 50Hz, which is pretty uncommon.

[Endymion]

I have never heard hide nor hair of an NTSC set that supports 50Hz, not that they don't exist but it would be pretty damn weird to see. And if you found a USA  TV that supports PAL and NTSC then why would you need a converter?

I would say this might be less of a pickle if you were in NTSC-land going to PALville, but in actuality, using RGB would circumvent the video problem but would not kill the issue of regional lockouts on many systems--easy to do if you're technical, and a good reason to roll your sleeves back and learn if not. I do think you will be better off in a lot of ways just going to NTSC, including the use of HDTV sets in the future.

[phreak97]

Endymion i think you are confusing refresh rates with video formats. the 50 or 60Hz is nothing to do with the video format. you can have ntsc50 ntsc60 pal50 or pal60. pal is most commonly pal50, and ntsc is most commonly ntsc60.
RGB is the most universal video format, and would be the best bet if youre happy to buy or make (or a combo of the two) the new cables.

[Endymion]

Endymion i think you are confusing refresh rates with video formats. the 50 or 60Hz is nothing to do with the video format. you can have ntsc50 ntsc60 pal50 or pal60. pal is most commonly pal50, and ntsc is most commonly ntsc60.

Uh, I do believe that I was saying that I have never seen a 50Hz NTSC set??  :huh:

Not that I doubt they exist, but these peepers have sure never seen one.

And again--dunno why he'd need the converter if he said the set he found does both PAL and NTSC--note that's his word, not mine.

[Guest_viletim]

I'd be interested to know how common a TV that supports 50hz is in NTSC land.  I'd be supprised if a reasonable percentage of them didn't support it. Here in PAL land most TVs will work with 50 and 60hz, even the non-multistandard ones (which aren't so common anymore).

phreak97,
yeah, pal60 is becoming popular with game consoles, well.. at least lots of my dreamcast games support it. It gets even more complicated when you fiddle with the colour burst freq and make strange things like NTSC4.43 (many PAL VCRs spit it out when playing NTSC tapes).

RGB also carries with it refresh rate problems but TV/monitors that support RGB usualy support any refresh rate between 50 and 60hz.

[phreak97]

And if you found a USA  TV that supports PAL and NTSC then why would you need a converter?

that just made it sound like you thought that a 50/60 ntsc tv was pal/ntsc.

viletim, i dunno what country youre in, but here (australia) i have found that many peoples tv's are older and do not support 60Hz. it's funny, it's the middle aged tv's that dont support it. when you go far enough back, they all have vhold knobs so they do 60hz, then you get the middle aged, which dont do 60 cos the sync is auto, then the new ones, where autosync accomodates multiple refresh rates.

if you have an ntsc tv out there which has a vhold knob, itll do 50Hz. but it may not fit on the screen properly. i have seen many tv's here that support 60hz but have big black bars at the top and bottom due to not accounting for the less horizontal lines in a 60Hz signal. ntsc tv's will be the opposite, the picture will go off the top and bottom edges.


if you can get a multi format tv and take it to the us with you, that's your best bet. you might even find one which will run happily on both 240 (or 220, whatever) and 110V.

[Gr3yfox]

Thanks for all the replies. This is the TV I found, but I have a feeling that this one won't work with NTSC games (since I'm probably gonna get my PS2 chipped so that it supports both my old games and games I'll buy in the states).
Well, please have a look and see if this one will work.
Thanks all again for all the quick replies!

[Endymion]

And if you found a USA  TV that supports PAL and NTSC then why would you need a converter?

that just made it sound like you thought that a 50/60 ntsc tv was pal/ntsc.

phreak--nowhere in that quote did I even mention the sync.

And gr3yfox, I've seen that site before and they specifically import their TVs (and other things) to cater to international users. So from that and the specs listed it does PAL and NTSC, looks like it will do the trick but it's pretty damn expensive, you can buy a domestic TV that size for half that much, just so you're aware of what you're paying extra for.

[phreak97]

I have never heard hide nor hair of an NTSC set that supports 50Hz, not that they don't exist but it would be pretty damn weird to see. And if you found a USA  TV that supports PAL and NTSC then why would you need a converter?

the bit i quoted was just the bit which made it sound that way, not the whole thing you said.

Gr3yfox, if youre still in palville, why not buy a tv and take it with you?